Carrier wheel device



N v. Z4y A. s. sum-"Fang." ET AL 1,833,132

CARRIER WHEEL DEVI CE Original Filed July 12, 1928 INVENTORS enema Nov. 1931 umrso STATES PATENT ol-"rlcs 'nmnasxorrsrmmmxmmmwmormmoromwzsrvmmn,

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- securing the carrier wheels to the shafts of open annealing furnaces. a In annealing sheets, the sheets are passed through the furnace over a succession of revolving wheels mounted on water cooled horizonta'l shafts. Thewheels overlag so that upon rotation of the wheels the sets are passed from wheel to wheel through the furnace. The shaft and wheels mounted thereon are suggestive of a disk harrow with 'the exception, of course, that the rims of the wheels are wide enough to support the sheets 16 passing through the furnace without markmg the sheets. .Much trouble has been-experiencedin connecting the wheels which supthe sheets to the shafts because of the lg temperature which it is necessary to '20 employ in these furnaces.

It previously has been proposed to-connect the wheels to the shafts, which ordinarily are hollow in order to allow air or other cooling fluid to be passed therethrough, by means of studs screwed into' the shafts and co-operating with recesses provided in the hubs of the wheels.

This practice is objectionable, however, for

the reason that in use the expansion of the 1 various giartscauses the'studs to become dis rom their recesses thereby allowing placed the wheels to rotate upon the shafts. It also has been proposed to connect the wheels and shaft by making the wheels in sections and bolting the wheels together. Slots were formed in the shafts in order to receive the bolts so that the bolts not only connected the parts of the wheel together but also prevented longitudinal movement of the wheels along the shafts. When this arrangement was employed the rims of the wheels were welded so as to provide a continuo'us rim. It was found that in time. the cast-iron sleeves or spacers which were used to space the wheels on the shafts expanded because of the heat, the bolts lost their tension which resulted in the spacers falling off of the shaft into the furnace and allowed the wheels to slide alon the shafts. This caused large openings in the furnace which allowed .line IIII of Figure 1.

' rality of shafts arran ed transversely o the sheets to drop down and seriously ed furnace o ration.

We have discovered a means for connecting the carrier wheels'of an annealing furnace to the shafts by which the above-mentioned disadvantages are obviated. Although our invention is particularly ap licable to. annealing furnaces, it may also e a plied in any place where a device is needed for driving disks or wheels in any type of furnace where a caterpillar action in oor movement is employed in making transit through the heatin medium.

n the drawings which show the present preferred embodiment of the invention- 05 Figure 1 is a transverse section throu h an annealing furnace and carrier wheel 's haft, parts being shown in elevation; and igure 2 is a sectional view taken on the Referring to the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, there is provided an annealing furnace 2 through whlch the sheets are passed in the annealing process. The furnace is provided with a fpluth furnace, on each of w ich a plurality of car ner wheels adapted to transport the sheets through the furnace, are mounted. As shown in the drawin openings 3 are provided in the sides of t e annealing furnace and are adapted to receive the shafts 4 on which the carrier wheels 5 are mounted. The shafts 4 are supported in bearings 6 arranged outside of the urnace and the shafts are adapted to be rotated from any desired source through the gear 7 arranged on the end of the shaft.

In order to overcome or minimize the effects of the unequal expansion of the rims and hubs of the carrier wheels, the wheels preferably are provided with curved spokes 8. The rims 9 of the wheels are of a suflicient width so that they do not mar the sheets which are supported by the rims of the wheels. The wheels are provided with noncircular hubs 10 which in the preferred embodiment are shown as substantially square. Our invention particularly contemplates means for connecting wheels provided with non-circular hubs, with a circular shaft and, m

as shown, we accomplish this result by employing segmental liners between the shafts and the hu s.

In the form shown in the drawings we employ quadrantal segmental liners 11 which cooperate with thesquare hubs, but it will be apparent that the hubs may be made of other angular shapes and the segmental liners may be shaped accordingly, if desired. The segments are arranged between the hubs of the carrier wheels and the shafts so as to cause rotation of the wheels as the shafts are rotated.

In assembling the device shown in Figure 1, the sleeve 12 is arranged on the shaft 4 and the sleeve is prevented from rotating with relation to the shaft by tightening set screw 13. The sleeve 12 is provided at its right hand end with a series of notches'lQ which co-operate with projections 14 on the sleeve 14 to cause the sleeves to rotate together. The right hand endof the sleeve 14 is reduced in size as shown at 15 in order that it may fit within the square hub of the left hand carrier wheel 5. A carrier wheel is then slid onto the reduced portion 15 of the sleeve 14. Segmental liners 11 are then inserted into the right hand side of the hub and thereafter other carrier wheels are slid over the segmental liners. The right hand end of the shaft is similarly provided with sleeves 16 and 17. It will be obvious that a single sleeve may be substituted for the two sleeves 12 andl t or for the two sleeves 16 and 17 if desired, and that the wheels, liners, and shaft may be assembled before fitting the sleeves 12, 14, 16 and 17 to the shaft.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings the carrier wheels are maintained in spaced position by the hubs of the wheels. is desired to space the wheels farther apart, ipicing sleeves may be employed between the When power is applied to the gear 7 it rotates the shaft 4. The sleeves 12 and 14 are rotated and cause the left hand carrier wheel 5 to rotate with the shaft. Each of the other carrier wheels is caused to rotate due to the arrangement of the segmental liners 11 between the shaft and the hubs of the wheels.

From the above description it will be seen that we have in effect transformed a circular shaft into a square shaft, and have in effect provided a unitary connection between the carrier wheels, segmental liners, sleeves and shaft.

Although the various parts may be made of any desired materials we have found it particularly advantageous to employ nichrome wheel hubs.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that the invention may be otherwise embodied without departing from the spirit If itof the invention or the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, a plurality of wheels provided with non-circular hubs, and a segmental liner for said shaft adapted to connect said wheels with said shaft.

2. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, a plurality of wheels provided with substantially square hubs, and a plurality of substantially quadrantal segmental liners adapted to connect said wheels with said shaft.

3. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, a lurality of wheels provided with curved spo res and substantially square hubs, a plurality of substantially quadrantal segmental liners adapted to connect said wheels with said shaft, and sleeves on said shaft adapted to co-operate with the end Wheels on said shaft to transmit power from said shaft to said wheels.

4. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, a plurality of carrier wheels provided with non-circular hubs of larger dimensions than said shaft, and a plurality of segmental liners arranged between said shaft and the hubs and adapted to cause said shaft and said wheels to rotate together.

5. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, 9. lurality of wheels associated therewith at east one of the wheels being operatively connected to the shaft, the hubs of the wheels having non-cir-' cular openings therein larger than the diameter of the shaft, and a liner on the outside of the shaft connecting the wheels to each other to cause them to rotate together when the shaft is rotated.

6. A device of the character described comprising a circular shaft, a plurality of wheels associated therewith at least one of the wheels being operatively' connected to the shaft, the hubs of the wheels having square openings therein larger than the diameter of the shaft, and a liner on the outside of the shaft-connecting the wheels to each other to cause them to rotate together when the shaft is rotated.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

ARTHUR S. SHOFFSTALL. HERMAN M. BROWN. 

